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Here’s what Detroit gun broker Terrance Coles had to say from prison

Reflects on ‘contributing to the mourning of mothers,’ says he’s ‘changed as a person’ in email exchange with Star.

Terrance Coles is currently serving 15 years in jail.

By David Bruser and Jayme PoissonStaff Reporters

Thu., April 18, 2013

Terrance “Dougie” Coles was a young and brash black-market gun broker, buying handguns off the streets of his hometown of Detroit and using young women to smuggle them north.

He aimed to capitalize on the high demand for firepower in Canada, where strict laws make gun possession difficult. He was caught, convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2011.

As part of the Star’s ongoing investigation into cheap American handguns flooding Toronto streets, we reached Coles inside McKean Federal Correctional Institution, about 145 kilometres south of Buffalo. Though the warden denied an in-person visit, Coles used a prison-managed email system to respond to several questions and make several comments, which appear here unedited.

Asked about his women bootleggers, Coles said: “these weren’t your everyday schoolgirls, these were young women who had the same philosophy as I did. They were conditioned to and guided by the fast life just as I was. We were all raised together so our ideology was the same . . . What’s scary is when I look back and realize that we believed it was actually a good idea to do what we were doing. We were in a corrupted state of mind.”

After a sting that lasted several months, agents arrested Coles while he attempted to trade nine handguns for a suitcase of ecstasy pills. A police officer involved in the arrest said Coles knew Canadian ecstasy was cheap and that he was eager to start selling it stateside.

“I was most definitely interested in purchasing extacy from who I thought was extacy dealers,” Coles wrote to the Star. “I didn’t know Canada had extacy over there until the ‘dealers’ claimed they had some.”

The Star asked Coles for details of his gun business, such as how much money he made per gun.

“The profit margin and the expenses fluctuates just as with any other commodity. Gold may be $1600 an ounce this week and $1000 next week. In fact gold hit an all time low in 30 yrs just recently.

“This was my first time ever being involved with gun smuggling. It was in a period of my life that I was unbalanced so I made unwise decisions.”

The day of his arrest, Coles was spooked by a grey van in the Detroit parking lot where he was about to exchange the guns for ecstasy. The ecstasy dealer, who was an undercover agent, talked him into staying to get the deal done. The Star asked Coles why he was not more cautious.

“I believe in order of the Universe. For me to become the man that I am I had to experience and persevere many struggles. Without a foe a soldier never knows his strength. So to answer your question. Yes, I knew something was up because the God in me, my intuition, told me so. In all this was my destiny so I aligned myself with my path and committed to finish what I started.”

When agents surrounded Coles’ car, he clambered into the backseat, trying to squirm away from his captors.

“Me having the criminal mind and the instinct that I had, my only thoughts were to get away. I saw huge weapons pointed at me so I attempted to get out of the line of fire.

Asked how he has adjusted to life behind bars, Coles wrote:

“You know as humans it’s in our genetics to instinctively adapt. Whether the conditions are inhumane . . . or whether our comfort is met. It weighs heavy on the mind to come from advanced civilization to a stagnant environment practically instantaneously. I’ve always been very optimistic so that personality trait is what navigated me through the mental storms . . . During the pretrial proceedings I did a lot of reflecting and then I began to grow internally.”

After a jury found him guilty on all counts, while in jail awaiting sentencing, Coles became an ordained minister.

“It wasn’t that I found God while in prison. My grandmother, Bertha Amiker, God rest her soul, raised me in a Christian household full of love. It was I who made poor decisions and debased myself against the principles that she instilled in me. So once I was secluded from society, I did just as all the other great prophets before me did, I reflected and looked within. I began to question and challenge myself to study and practice virtues to ultimately become the best me that I could be.

“I changed as a person in many ways. Where I once was naive and reckless . . . I realize the interdependent connection we as humans have. So harm done to others subsequently effects everyone.

“I only wish to have the opportunity to right my wrongs.”

Coles said he now tries to help others. The Star asked him how he does this.

“As far as me being a positive influence I believe that Self-Respect is the catalyst to respecting others. I know my value and my potentials so I walk and I talk accordingly. I’m a part of many self help programs including ‘Becoming a Professional Life Coach,’ which has given me another avenue to help and assist others, which is my true passion. I try to be the beam of light for those with clouded vision.

“I plan on continuing my mission to help others through impactful programming and Self Realization Activities whether facilitating to the youth, criminals, or those in search of finding their passion. I’m also in search of anyone who’s willing to make a change for the better and who’s willing to stand for what’s right! To help and assist me in this plight that interdependently effects us all, violence!”

Coles was asked to respond to news of Toronto’s recent gun violence, some of it in public and indiscriminate, more and more of it involving youths.

“It saddens my heart to hear that Toronto is becoming more gun violent. To hear of the suffering around the world is a heartache but to know that I could’ve possibly contributed to the mourning of mothers is upsetting.”

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